So I can't say this has been a life
long dream the idea has always been there. However it always meant I
had to go to Thailand or somewhere around there and to be honest Asian
countries have never really interest me give me Africa and Europe
any day. So when I found out I could go ride and Elephant near my
stomping ground in the Eastern Cape Province I was like sweeeeeeeet
DONE.
Being Molested
So off I went into the deepest darkest
Africa nah just kidding it was however in the middle of nowhere.
I finally arrived at Addo Elephant Back Safari Reserve on a drizzly
wet morning. Hoping against all hope I could still ride this grey
beast as it turns out I was the only one there that morning. The
weather being a big turn off for most people. I was like nah mate I'm for
New Zealand this isn't rain I'll be fine.
I spend about 20min on the elephant and
thinking about it just makes my arse hurt again. They are by no means
a squish animal and their back bone well let me just say this they
have one. After the ride I got to go for a walk with them around the
bush area which was kinda cool walking right next to them. My last
bit with the Elephant was a photo op and feeding them. They made the
Elephant kneel down so I could sit on its leg and in the process I
got molested by an elephant trunk. When I got to feed them I was
placing food into its trunk maybe a hand full or so and the elephant
gave me a look as if to say “Bitch please is that all I'm getting
for lugging your fat ass around the bush” and he wouldn't put the
food into his mouth until I filled his trunk up. I finished my day
there with a beautiful meal in a tent like structure surrounded by
native bush. In the end I think it was well worth the sore arse and
the long drive, next time however I will book a room there and stay
the night.
I'm not going to write to much as there
is a video to watch and its worth it as I star in it and it feature
Elephant penis too but its cheesy as hell. The guy who edited
it has only been doing it for a month and have never before in his life picked up
a camera let alone use a computer so I think he
did a pretty good job.
So, so far I have rode on a horse, an ostrich and now an elephant I might see if I can ride a moose in Canadia. Hmmm wonder what else i can go for a ride on ... an Orca??
Ok so sorry for the lack of blog
entries but I have been busy being a glob trotter.
Annnyways so there I was in Jo'burg
with no license and the next 4 weeks in Africa came crashing down
around me. I wasn't going to see Lesotho anymore nor Botswana and
Namibia well that was still kinda on the cards when I thought hey
lets just fly there. Luckily I didn't as I would have been stuck in
Windhoek with nothing to do.
I decided that I will fly down to Port
Elizabeth as I have family down there and I would be able to get
around the place a bit and one of my Uncles had a car down there I
could use in and around the city. Yup all illegal and stuff I know.
Anyways I ended up staying with one of my mums Cousins for a bit and
kinda fell into their routines as we went around town to Gymnastics
and Karate with the kids. These kids are amazing in their sports and
kinda made me feel like the big fat lazy sloth. Which after a while
of thinking I was actually really ok with, I don't like to sweat.
We also went to a park on the edge of
the city called Kragga Kamma Game Reserve which pretty much is just a
big farm with wild animals walking around the place. I know in
African terms having a game farm pretty much within the city limits
isn't a strange notion but to little old me from tiny old New Zealand
it was kinda like hey you have some Giraffes over there ,oh and that
Cheetah wondering around too. We probably spend about a couple of
hours in this park just driving around and have a snack at the rest
area in the middle of the park. I try and go and see African animals
every time I get to go to the Republic and having been born there it
shouldn't really be a big deal for me. However I love watching all of
them just going about their business as if nothing has changed in
the last 500 years. I still cant decide which African animal is my
favourite. The elephant is very high up on that list so is the
Giraffe and I do like the donkeys in PJ's too.
After spending sometime with my mums
Cousins family I went to stay with my cousin Gideon for the majority
of my remaining time in the Republic. We ended up going to the beach
one day by a Valley near the CBD that I have fond memories of. 'Happy
Valley' and no to my Kiwi counter parts its not the landfill in NZ
this is a magical place of wonder, hopes and dreams. Well it use to
be now your lucky if you don't get raped or so I'm told. However Happy
Valley like the name suggest is in fact a valley with a little stream
running through it. Somewhere back in its history it provided the
settlers with water now you probably get Gonorrhea from it. The Happy
part in the name refers to the fact that it use to have little
sculptures of all your favourite child hood stories hiding under trees
here and there all along a path. Also from memory you use to be able
to push a button and some of them moved and a speaker told you the
story. But these days you get a Pumba and half of Timon and some of
the other characters have also been violated in someway. However I
told the touchy man no and went for a wonder down Rapers alley to
relive my child hood.
I also went to visit Van Der Merwe HQ
in Kirkwood and surveyed the happenings there. While in Kirkwood I
went to visit a former Mrs Van and her class room to speak about NZ
and the shakes that we seem to have acquired. I started speaking in
Afrikaans as you do when in a class room in Africa and the kids told
me no you have to speak English and I asked why? It turned out they
wanted to laugh at my accent at which point I reminded them of a
little rugby game they lost. Yes yes I was picking on a bunch of 10
year olds not my proudest moment. After speaking to them and answering
all the their question for about an hour they had to write an essay
on what I have said. I'm just waiting on some copies to be sent to me
and I might post them on here mind you they are all writtin in
Afrikaans though. However I thought it was pretty cool as I have
never been a essay topic.
Well the rest of my time in PE seemed
to have gone really quickly I met some awesome people and had some
fun nights out at my new local bar Manhattans. FYI if your ever in
Port Elizabeth go to Manhattans and order a Manhattan Milkshake, I
named it and it was created at my request for a chocolate drink om
nom nom nom. Oh I also went to Grahamstown to visit the Doctor who I
haven't seen in like 16 years. She is a year younger then me and we
use to play barbies together as kids … and my mum didn't know? But
yeah it was amazing to catch up with old and new faces in the
Republic and I really can't wait to go back.
Oh I also went
and rode on an elephant but I'll blog about that in my next post ….
ciao
I arrived around about 10:30am in South
Africa the idea was that I would be staying at my my mums niece for
the night before heading of into the Africa. My mums niece said that
no-one would be home till around 4:30pm. I was fine with this as I
would pick up my rental car and go for a drive around Jo'burg and
Pretoria and do the tourist thing. Before leaving New Zealand I
spend hours and hours looking up things that I could do if I choice
so. Armed with my suit case and hand luggage and the tree that I
killed with printing out all the info I headed of to Hertz office on
O.R Tambo International Airport.
The man that couldn't decide if he
should speak English or Afrikaans to me spend sometime filling in
paper work for me while I spend the time trying to find my bloody
wallet. I thought to myself 'great been in the country 5min and my
wallet has already been stolen'. I finally located my Wallet inside
of Gary and got my license out for Mr Confused. He took the license
and and started trying out how the thing worked which was funny in
its own right.
He looked at me and said 'Its Expired'
my response was umm no its valid for 10 years it can't have expired.
So it turns out I have had my license for 10 years now. I arrived in
the Republic on the 10 Nov and my license expired on the 6 Nov. A
HIMYM line went through my head ..' Yooou son of a bitch'. I asked
him what this would mean and he politely said it looks like I'm
walking. After swearing at myself for a while I headed over to a
Internet shop on the airport and proceed to type the following in
good old Google …' New Zealand High Commission in South Africa'.
After ringing them and leaving a message with one of the people there
I headed over to a Vodacom store to get myself sim carded.
All of this took about an hour once I
had my sim card I was like what do I do now I have x amount of hours
to kill before 4:30. So what do I do when I have nothing else to do …
I eat! I sat at a pizza place for a while eating and switching
between reading the newspaper they provided and my book. Sookie
Stackhouse in the novel annoys me that much that I can only do a few
pages at a time before having to put it down in fear of wanting to
hurt anyone blond.
I finally caught a taxi to head to my
Aunties, as I was walking towards the taxi stand my heart was
pounding with fear of what I would find. The idea of using a taxi in
Africa scares me. However I was pleasantly surprised this was a Merc
and a nice one at that driven by a man that was that black that he
would need to smile at night so that you could see him. I gave him
the address and of we went, as we where driving he asked do I know
the place I'm going to. My response was well its family but I have
never been there. He was um ok can you ring them of his mobile and
ask for directions. This is when I spotted the GPS bracket on his
dashboard minus the GPS.
I thought better of it and rang my
Auntie from my mobile and he spoke to her to get the directions.
After 2 phone calls to my Auntie I decided that he should just drop me
of at a shopping Centre near my Aunties place and she can come pick
me up from there. I gave the man his money and he left me standing
outside a supermarket with my big red suitcase waiting on someone
that actually knew where I was.
I spent the next few days at my Aunties
trying to solve the drama that was my license. I finally got word
from the High Commission and they said yes I can get an extension on
my license for 12 months but I had to deal with New Zealand directly.
It turns out that it would take 3 weeks for me to get the new license
by which stage I would pretty much be heading out of South Africa.
Also if I wish to extent my license any further I would have to go
back to New Zealand proper and do it from there …. yay. So yes
here I was with all these plans and it all pretty much just went to
hell and the question now was 'What do I do now' I had 4 weeks in the
country and so far I have made it only 15min from the airport ...
A quick Foreword:
I bloody hate the photo thing on blogger so you peeps can just deal with the random placing of the photos
I was really looking forward to Dubai I
have been here once before in 2005/06 with the ex. So I knew what to
expect and after the saga that was Singapore I was hoping that this
would be a relaxing 2 days. I arrived in the late afternoon and
stayed in the Ibis City Centre not sure if it is in fact the city
centre or just a name. However the mall across the road also had City
Centre in its name so it must have been.
I spend sometime in the mall mostly
looking for international plugs as I decided against bringing the set
I have in NZ with me and the hotel in Singapore had international
plugs installed as their normal sockets, so haven't had a need for
them yet. This mall was massive and yes I kinda got lost in it too.
Why one mall need so many shops that sells gold is beyond me. You can
even buy the religious outfit Muslim gals wear in Louis Vuitton,
Armani and Gucci. Apparently a girl got to have her outfit, shoes and
handbag matching even if its all black.
The next morning was going to be the
test to see if Flight Centre got it right. I had two things booked
for the day a city tour in the morning and a night safari in the
desert. Now I have been on the city tour before however since Dubai
keep building new buildings every 5 minutes I thought it would be a
good Idea to do it again. I was meant to meet the tour bus people at
my Hotel reception around 8:30am I waited and waited and started
getting really worried, about 15 – 20min later they finally showed
up today might actually turn out ok.
We drove around town for a bit visiting
the last Sheiks summer palace its pretty much a shack on a dirt patch
especially when you compare them to the present royal families
palaces which would put any European Royal family to shame. Driving
around town was also kind of weird seeing all the buildings in real
life after having watched many programs about them on National
Geographic. The Burj Dubai Tower being one of them, looked like
something that was alive and growing out of the ground. After
driving around for awhile and visiting a number of places we got a
water taxi's across the Dubai Creek and being a tourist focused tour
they took us to the markets to buy shit. At the end they took us to
a parking lot where everyone on the bus was put on different
transport to head back to their hotels. Myself and another couple
where the only once to remain on the bus alongside the tour guide and
the driver. The other couple was dropped of very quickly, the tour
guide got dropped of at a mall and then it was just me. A whole bus
to myself the whole way back to the hotel its nice when your treated
in the manor that your deserving of :P .
After having a quick shower and
changing into some warmer clothes I went downstairs to the reception
to meet the tour bus company again. This time I would head to the
desert and have dinner under the stars. We where picked up in a 4x4
it was me an Australian couple and two girls from the Czech Republic.
We drove for ages to get out of the city and finally arrived at a
national park which name escapes me now. When we arrived there was
already other 4x4 waiting I think in total there would have been
about 20 4x4s that would be occupying as on the desert excursion. The
drivers let the tyres down a bit before we all set off. Our first
stop was a falcon show where they demonstrated a few tricks with a
young falcon. While we where watching the falcon show a wild falcon
came swooping pass trying to drive the tame one out of its territory.
We continued on for a while driving
around like idiots on the sand dunes and every so often spotting a
few Onyx's. We made one a stop in the middle of no where to
watch the sun set before dinner. Even thought there was a lot of
people with us, sitting on the dune looking out in front of you and
seeing nothing but desert and the sun setting is kind of spiritual
and very relaxing for the soul. Its something you should really
experience and even though the desert is just sand and a few shrubs
there is something amazingly beautiful about it. After the sun set we
headed to a Bedouin camp, well it was a fake one tourist trap. Here
we had dinner and got to ride on a camel around the camp. The food
was amazing and I have to say when I get to Canadia I'm buying an
Arabic cooking book. While eating we were treated to a belly dancing
show, this girl kept going for a solid 30mins I was just exhausted
watching. All in all it was a amazing night under the starts in an
Arabian desert. Even thou it all was a bit of a tourist trap and
designed to cater for tourist which I generally hate, this however
was still worth doing and personally I can't wait for my next
adventure that takes me to Dubai.
For those who know me would probably
know the story* about why I don't like use 'Flight Centre' and I was
pretty adamant that I will never use them again. However I went
against my own wish and decided to book my flight through 'Flight
Centre Rangiora'. My mother uses them for all her travel needs and so
far they haven't fucked it up for her yet. Well when I arrived in
Singapore it seemed that my fears about 'Flight Centre' was
reconfirmed, however let me start at the beginning.
I landed in Singapore rather early in
the morning the Idea behind this was so that I can go explore the
city before flying out the next morning. So one of those hop on hop
off city tour bus things was organized for me to do during the day
and in the evening I was going to go to a night Safari at the Zoo.
The first time I realized that
something was wrong was when the Taxi dropped me off at the hotel and
I asked them to confirm my booking with the Zoo. The guy at reception
informed me that it was a public holiday and that he was pretty sure
the Zoo would be shut but will give them a call anyways. Well it
turns out he was right as he couldn't get hold of them. He told me to
be back at the hotel when they where meant to pick me up and hope
they do. Now the reason I needed to confirm the booking was because I
didn't know what time they would pick me up. Annoyed I went up to my
room and had a shower because at least I had the City Tour Bus left.
I studied the map that was given to me
by 'Flight Centre' for the route the bus takes and saw that the
Botanic Gardens was semi close to me and that it had a stop there for
me to get on. So I got a cab there as it was a bit to far to walk.
The main entrance into the park was that busy that the taxi driver
told me he will go to the other side of the park where it should be
more quiet and easier to drop me off, after all it was a public
holiday and everyone in Singapore was out and about. I spent some
time wondering across the park to my bus stop and if you like plants
the park is well worth the visit.
I got to the the sign post that matched
the details somewhat on my voucher for the bus and waited in the hot
weather. Finally the bus got there and I hopped on so to speak. The
bus driver informed me that I was on the wrong bus and that I should
get the double decker one at the main gate. So I hopped of again and
wandered down to the main gate trying to figure out where the bus
actually stops. Finally it arrived and I presented my voucher to the
driver who informed me that he doesn't think its part of his company
but to stay on the bus till they get to their depot and then to hop
of. So while the bus was driving through the city I started studying
the map again and saw that in fact they where going the same direction
as my bus was meant to go. When we stopped at their depot I realised
we where in the wrong side of town that I wanted to be in. So I hoped
of again and with the help of a very limited map tried to find my way
to the next stop 'The Singapore Flyer'.
After a lot of wondering and getting
stuck in a mall and not being able to find the exit I finally made it
to the Flyer. On route there I passed their soccer stadium which is
pretty much just a stand on the side of a bay and the field that's
floats out in the water. When I got to the flyer, which is basically
just a big wheel with compartments hanging of it. I decided to go
spin around on it to see the city views it was only when my
compartment made it to the top that the thought of Earthquakes
crossed my mind. In that moment hanging of a big metal wheel being
100's of meters up in the sky I wanted out and I wanted out
immediately. I survived the ordeal of the wheel and got to take some
cool pictures from that high up. You could see all the boats lying of
the coast of Singapore waiting on their turn to enter the harbour.
After my 'Singapore Flyer experience I
went to where all the buses stop in search for my hop on and hop off
bus again. Well after checking with a number of operators no one
could tell me which imaginary bus service I was with. So in the end I
had to use the very limited map and just start walking. I spend most
of the day walking and angrily texting my mother back in New Zealand
to go kick 'Flight Centre' up the ass as I was not amused. After a
rather long day of walking I finally caught a taxi back to my hotel
and possibly the hope of going to the Zoo. I got back to the Hotel
around 5:30pm and no-one came looking for me and I never did make it
to the Zoo. As I was falling asleep that night after checking my
alarm clock like 400 times to make sure it was set for the right
time in the morning. I hoped that my 2 nights in Dubai will fare
better then Singapore.
*Story of why I didn't want to use
Flight Centre.
In 2006ish me and my then partner
decided to head over to Africa to go see where I was spawned. Even
though it's a long and backwards way of doing it I decided I wanted
to go through Dubai as you have to stop over somewhere on your way to
the Republic thats South. So off I went to book with our local
'Flight Centre'. I booked our accommodation in Dubai and the fact the
ex didn't eat meat. They told me since there was no connecting flight
on the day we where traveling through Dubai that Emirates will put us
up in a hotel for the night and I was like sweeeeet.
When we
where about to leave Christchurch something told me to check the
vegetarian status of our flight. It turns out that my beloved was
going to starve all the way to Dubai. I was assured that even thought
they couldn't change it for our flight from Christchurch to Sydney
the rest of our flight will state that he was a Vego, well long story
short only the flight form Dubai to Jo'burg actually had the right
details but to the credit of the Crew on Emirates they made sure Mr
Grumpy had food each time.
When we arrived in Dubai I was
expecting a sign with my name on it spelt very badly but there was
nothing so after a while I grabbed Mr Extremely Grumps at that
stage's phone and told him to go outside and have a cigarette while
I called Flight Centre. It turned out that because of demand Emirates
added a new flight a few hours after our plane landed and that we no
longer have accommodation and that our travel agent should have told
us this. So after a few selected words I informed them that we where
stuck in a country that barely speaks English and they better sort
it. The idiot on the other side said they could hold 2 seats for me
but I would have to book them on my side at the counter. Bear in mind though hat this plane was meant to leave in a couple of hours.
So I ran around like a mad idiot
pushing into lines going through security the wrong way and finally
got to book the flights and with some luck hoping to get our bags in
South Africa at the same time as us. In the international lounge I
had to inform my family we will be a day early. On our way back we
had a flight from Port Elizabeth to Jo'burg I handed over my e-ticket
which turned out to be nothing more then a piece of paper. So I had
to buy our tickets again to get on the flight. Luckily the rest for
the flying went ok except for that I got food poising in Dubai and
the ex got gout in his foot so our 2 days there was pretty much
ruined too.
Personally I'm starting to think I
should just book all my flights and activities myself in the future.
I left Christchurch Auckland bound at
about 9:40am on the 6th Nov this would be the first leg of
my journey around the world. Originally I was meant to spent the
night in Auckland but for one reason or another that escapes my mind
now. I ended up having to get an earlier flight out of the country.
This earlier flight had me leaving at 1:10am on the 7th
Nov, which meant I had to be at the airport at 11pm and as I landed
in Auckland at 11am I had about 12 hours to kill.
Mr G&H
came and picked me up from the airport accompanied by Cheryl still in
her flash clothes from the night before. It would have been the
longest walk of shame if Mr G&H didn't partake in each other. We
went for a yummy lunch some where in West Auckland, personally I
think it was in honour of Cheryl being in the car with us but I could
be wrong. We also wondered the central city for a while before
dropping Cheryl to her place of residence.
Me and Mr G&H continued to drive
around the city for awhile and ended up on top of one of the many
volcano's that occupies Auckland city. It was kind of weird thinking
that we were walking around the rim of a volcano but somewhat cool at
the same time. There was signs every where that said please dont go
into the crater as it sacred and you might damage it. My question to
those playing at home is how does one damage a volcano crater. Do you
walk down it and it shatters like glass and lava starts flowing out
of it and as a result you 2012 Auckland City.
Well after sometime of not damaging the
crater we headed back to Mr G&H's base of operations to relax
before dinner. We had dinner across the road from the SkyTower at
some Mexican restaurant where Miss B joined us. As a result of being
across the SkyTower me and Mr G&H decided we should brave the
SkyTower and go up there. This would be Mr H and my first time up the
tower. Now I'm generally fine with heights but I have to say that
walkin over a bit of glass god knows how many metre up in the sky is
not for me. I did it though as the saying goes “When in Rome”.
After our excurtion up the tower we
headed for the airport where Mr G&H dropped me off to catch my
plane to Singapore.
This is a film about the Earthquake that just about destroyed my home City of Christchurch, New Zealand. I have watched the trailer a number of times now and each time it brings me to tears. It comes out in cinemas on the 20th November here in New Zealand which is probably a blessing as I will be overseas and will have to buy the DVD. That way I can watch it in the privacy of my own room, as I would probably be crying like a little bitch.
Well after many weeks of pain staking research and many visits to my fellow Canadian Club drinker Chloe at Flight Centre Rangiora I finally have everything confirmed. Well not everything there is still some issues surrounding my car rental but I'm sure its nothing to major.
So here is my Itinerary ...
6th Nov - Depart Christchurch at 9:40am
Arrive in Auckland at 11:00
7th Nov - Depart Auckland at 1:10am
Arrive in Singapore at 6:35am
8th Nov - Depart Singapore at 12:55pm
Arriving in Dubai at 4:30pm
10th Nov - Depart Dubai at 04:40am
Arriving in Jo'burg at 10:50am
This part of the Itinerary is only penciled in as I will be driving around in a rental.
10th Nov - Drive Jo'burg - Pretoria
13th Nov - Drive Pretoria - Kimberley
14th Nov - Drive Kimberley - Bloemfontein - Maseru, Lesotho
17th Nov - Drive Maseru - Queenstown, RSA - Grahamstown
18th Nov - Drive Grahamstown - Port Elizabeth
23rd Nov - Drive Port Elizabeth - Kirkwood
25th Nov - Drive Kirkwood - Sunland - Middelburg
27th Nov - Drive Middelburg - Upington
28th Nov - Drive Upington - Keetmanshoop, Namibia
29th Nov - Drive Keetmanshoop - Luderitz
30th Nov - Drive Luderitz - Windhoek
3rd Dec - Drive Windhoek - Walvis Bay
4th Dec - Drive Walvis Bay - Swakopmund - Windhoek
5th Dec - Drive Windhoek - Ghanzi, Botswana
6th Dec - Drive Ghanzi - Gaborone
7th Dec - Drive Gaborone - Jo'burg, RSA
7th Dec - Depart Jo'burg at 8:50pm
Arrive in London at 6:25am
Somewhere in my time in London I will shoot over to the Netherlands to go visit my families ruined Castle.
20th Dec - Depart London at 2:25pm
Arriving in Vancouver at 4:25pm
Depart Vancouver at 6:00pm
Arrive in Victoria, BC 6:24pm
Then there is a whole lot of going with the flow here.
1st Jun 2012 - Depart Vancouver at 8:00pm
Arrive in Auckland at 5:00am
3rd Jun 2012 - Depart Auckland at 7:50pm
Arrive in Christchurch 9:10pm
So there you have it I be gone for a long time and starting to shit my pants a little about the whole thing. But hey I seem to do my best when being thrown into the deep end. So stay tuned for future posts following my progress around the world.
Since this year has been all about travel so far I decided to do one more road trip before I leave New Zealand. So in the car I got and drove to Palmerston North to visit my sister. Now if you some how find yourself in Palmy set the GPS for the quickest way out of there. I always forget what a shit hole it is. So I spend a couple of nights with her and her overly religious married flatmate's. Personally I think if I got to spend some more time up there I could have had the 'husband' in my bed without much effort. However I thought better of disrupting their narrow views on life.
On my way back I met up with the Leddie-Crumps in Lower Hutt (near Wellington). I wanted to grab my remaining stuff off Dulcinea and the Leddie-Crumps thought as its a long weekend they might as well fly up and hitch a ride back home with me. (For those that dont know what Dulcinea is go read this blog.) It was weirdly cereal to be on the boat again and kind of a shame that we didn't end up sailing back home form the Americas. I forgot how much I really enjoyed being on good all Dulcinea. However hopefully soon I will get to sail again.
Anyways we got up on Monday morning at some ungodly hour (I blame Emma) to catch the Ferry home. It was a short and sweet trip but it was fun being on the road again. I really think I got the traveling back good now and can't wait for my next adventure, which I will blog about later tonight or tomorrow when I can be arsed.
Well here is a quick video I did for our trip from Wellington to Christchurch nothing to exciting but you get to see the damage that Dulcinea suffered in the storm she got caught in.
So here is another video of our trip up north to Auckland with Mr G&H. The video starts just out Wellington and finishes in Auckland. The track in the background is called 'Aotearoa' by Minuit a New Zealand band.
Budgets Budgets and more Budgets how I hate them. So the next great adventure I'm trying to plan that is mend to blow my mind away is turning out to be a nightmare, thanks to that thing called money.
So far Egypt had to taken of the list thanks to this little thing going on in the Middle East called the 'Arab Spring'.
Now another remove on the list had to be done due to budgets constraints, my beloved Petra had to be cut. I have wanted to go there since, well since I found out it existed but alas it will have to wait for another day. Stooopid Monies.
But I'm getting close to confirming my Itinerary as the 5th November is approaching fast (the new departure date) and I'm starting to stress out.
Thought I would do some shameless promotion and announce to the world, in other words the 3 people that read my blog that I now have a Facebook Page. Oh yes Roetastic.com has its very own Facebook Page flash aye.
Also, Ello to my stalker from Charlotte, North Carolina (yay Google Analytics) glad to see your ok. The news told me there was floods around your area and didn't know if you where ok or how to really get hold of you. Thinking about it I could have asked Tanya hmmmm.
Ok so I did promise that I will start editing the clips that I filmed on my trip up north. So here is the second installment our journey on the Interislander. Nothing much happened and for some reason I kept filming the cows. Oh and I stole the song of the Interislander ad, yay me .....
So my trip is still waiting to be confirmed and I'm fearing that I might have to push everything back a week which I'm not happy about. Another thing that I'm not happy about either is Egypt and the protest there. Ok yes violence is never a good thing but my unhappiness is rather selfish here.
You see I was meant to go to Egypt on my Next Adventure. I was going to sail down the Nile for 4 days visiting crumbled old buildings and also go and visit those pointy triangle things everyone goes on about. But nooooooooooo Egypt had to go and protest again and now the New Zealand Travel advisory says the following.
"There is high risk to your security in
Egypt, including in the Sinai (except in the Red Sea resort area, Luxor
and Aswan), due to the unpredictable security situation and threat from
terrorism and we advise against all tourist and other non-essential
travel"
"There is some risk to your security in the Red Sea resort area, Luxor and Aswan due to the threat from terrorism and we advise caution."
I'll give you a high risk of my foot up your ass Egypt. However even if I do still go my expensive travel insurance will not cover me. Also my travel agent said she doesn't want my mum in her shop asking why she send me to Egypt. My mother can be scary when she wants to be so I dont blame Chloe. So yes there goes one leg of my adventure but there is still other exiting places left.
Anyways hope to have a update very soon with confirmed dates.
This is totally me right now, a tat over excited and youthful. Ok maybe not so youthful anymore but definitely very excited about my next adventure.
So last Friday I headed into Flight Centre Rangiora to go visit my new best friend Chloe with the 'Adventure Bible' in hand. Once she stopped laughing at me and my 'little black book' we got to the serious business of making me poor. After about 2 hours of rearranging this and that and getting excited about selected sections of my next Adventure we penciled in a departure date.
So once Chloe can confirm all the dates and I part with my savings. I should be departing New Zealand on the 30th October and be returning around the 3rd July 2012.
Where am I going?
Well some people already know and most at least know it will end in Canada. However the in between bit is more of a secret and will be kept that way until closer to the time.
So stay posted and you might get a sneak peek of the adventure years in the planning ...
So this is Adventure Planning HQ for my next trip and yes I am using two laptops plus a Xoom Tablet to do my planning. If you direct your attention to the front you will see my 'Adventure Bible' ,Owen will be so proud of me. It contains 14 sectors that I will be visiting and another 3 more will be added soon. Also tomorrow I will be confirming dates and the 'Adventure Bible' will be going into Flight Centre with me, hope your prepeared Chloe.
Ok so this is going to be a very long post in theory I should really break it into separate posts. However I have already loaded all the maps into this one and cant be arsed making everything separate again. So I will give you some time to go make a coffee get a biscuit and come back to what is a novel yet interactive post. Go on go make a coffee I'll wait .............. bored now ..... right I'm starting.
So a few weekends ago I did the trek north with two of my good mates. Whom have succumb to the temptress that is Auckland and decided to move there, instead of continuing to shake it out in Quakechurch. Now you can pretty much do the drive from Christchurch to Auckland in one day if you like. I have done Hamilton to Christchurch in one day and Hamilton is about 1hr south of Auckland. It does not make for a fun drive but it is doable.
But anyways Mr G&H decided to take a slow approach to the whole thing, and me well since I'm a Lady of Leisure these days I decided to tag along for the ride. It took about a week and half to complete this trip ending with me flying back to Christchurch.
Our first leg of the Journey was between Christchurch and Nelson. It does go through parts of the mountains but nothing like the Southern Alps so its much nicer drive and rather pretty. I spend most of the trip in the back seat either singing to myself or snoring and at times laughing at Mr H stressing himself out.
What road trip would be complete with out having the G-man along, yes Gary came along for the ride and as grump gnomes go he behaved himself most of the way. Except for when he got to Wellington but thats later in this post.
Since Nelson is the city were Mr H's mother reside we spend about 2 nights in Nelson itself. We helped her move to her new house, much to Mr H's annoyance. I however got to be butch and drive a tiny truck I named her Little Beyonce or Little B for short mostly because it had a small front and a massive ass.
While in Nelson we went to visit Natureland (I think thats what it was called), well if you ever find yourself there give it a miss. Unless your there with small kids then it might be worth it. Me however like anything that stinks of a Zoo and love seeing one of my kinsmen from Africa the Meerkat. I spend about 15min trying to figure out how I could steal this rather fat Meerkat but thought I might loose a finger or two in the attempt and gave it a miss.
They had a one legged Magpie that can say 'Hello' and I must say I rather like the noise magpies make and think that my next bird I acquire will be of the Magpie variety, well right after I buy Sebu a matching mate that she can rape and harass.
There is also a miniature train thingy near the fake zoo which also excited me beyond believe. Since we where having a day out with Mr H's little brothers this was of course was a must visit. Me and Mr H couldn't wait to get on the train or maybe it was just me. To be honest I wasn't really paying attention as I was fighting the urge to clap my hands every time one of them came past us.Actually I think I might have clapped once or twice.
Mr H, his brothers and me went on the small steam train for a ride. Mr G on the other hand would not get on the train and pulled some unhealthy faces at us and mentioned a few words and what we could do with them. I ignored this hating as I was focused on the cute little fire pit thingy it had and its cute little wheels and cute little coal wagon behind the .... what are they called they not a captain ... well behind the man that drives it.
Here is a video about the train ride if you are really that bored if not continue the novel that is this post below.
So after our fun filled time in Nelson it was sadly time to move onto our next destination Picton. Picton for those playing from the New World is a port town in the northern part of the South Island where the ferries from Wellington stop. If you want to get to Wellington without flying you have to catch the ferry no way around it. Well unless you want to be one of those stupid people that swims across the Cook Strait.
We arrived in Picton on a rainy dark night if we where in
America I would have made sure that we had a black guy with us. Because
arriving in Picton was a great set up for a horror movie and lets face
it the black guy always gets it first in a horror. Well we finally found a
place to stay, well once the lady behind the counter could find a clean
room as she couldn't be bothered cleaning that day. That night we also ended
up in an Irish bar, I used a public toilet that kept talking to me and
Mr G&H discovered that oysters don't taste so
nice the second time around.
The next day we made our way to the ferry terminal and yes I kind of giggled to myself due to the fact that 3 fairies was about to get on a ferry. This would be Mr G's first time on the ferry and yet again I got over excited due to this fact. All the fun facts that Wikipedia taught me about this journey was dancing around in my head however I tried to restrain my excitement and let Mr G enjoy the horror that is the Ferry.
To my disappointment the ferry ride was pretty uneventful there wasn't even the 7 metre and bigger swells that Cook Strait is famous for. The 2 1/2 hours which normal stretches to 3 went past pretty quickly. We did the customery walk around the boat about 400 times and Mr G&H smoked on every deck they could. We also made friends with some cows that was in a truck on one of the open decks. One of the cows had that look in its eye that I recognized as being a member of the 'Bovine Freedom Movement'.
Anyways we finally arrived in the Capital. After what seemed like hours we finally got of the boat but not after some aggressive commentary from Mr H in regards to other ferry goers and their driving abilities.
I must say that I do like Wellington its a much smaller city then Christchurch but it feels so much bigger due to all the high rise building squished into a very limited space around the harbour. I would never move to Wellington, especially since its pretty much build on where two tectonic plates meet, give me Quakechurch any day.We finally found a place to stay only problem was that it was on the 9th floor of some building. It was nice little apartment though except for the fact that every time Mr G&H would open the balcony door to go for a smoke my room would shake and freak the shit out of me. The thought of earthquakes and collapsing buildings spend some quality time in my head the reast of the night and yes I went to sleep with my ID on my person.
The next day Mr H went shopping/visiting a mate which gave Mr G the opportunity to stress this time, about parking. The stressing was more amusing then the shopping until a religious nut saw Mr H and his mate and ran up to them and stuffed some religious propaganda into their hands. I bet he went home and said to his wife "Love today I saved some Homosexuals"
We also found some interesting street art near the War Museum in Wellington. Gary told us he just found it and that it wasn't him. I for one don't believe his story at all that little gnome is no good I tell you no good.
After all the God fearing excitement we got back into the car and headed for Hastings. We finally reached it at night fall and let me just say this don't bother. We drove the extra 30 mins and went and stayed in Napier.
Napier like Christchurch also got flatten by an earthquake, theirs just happen in 1931. Strangely theirs happened the begining of February Christchurchs happened at the end. Thanks to that earthquake most of Napier is build in the Art Deco style and rather pretty. The beach at Napier however is rather strange. It has no waves and you get that 2012 feeling about it all. Saying that, Napier is well worth the visit.
Mr G&H decided it was my turn to drive, personally I think Mr G just wanted my cubicle in the back seat so he could sleep. Mr G&H learned to regret this decision on more then one level. Firstly I love Marina's and seem to find them without trying Mr G&H on the other hand don't care much for them. Secondly somewhere in between Gisborne (which is a bit of a shit hole) and Whakatane the car started doing some strange things. Me, well I thought it was just the truck in front of us slip stream that was doing it to the car. It turns out I was wrong. I have the ability to get in a car that is running perfectly and if anything might be not be 100% in the car it will break. I got magic hands I tell you magic.
We ended up in some hick town in the middle of nowhere, where my kind probably get hunted for sport. Some short little girl had a look at the car and made me drive around the block as she put it (this town only had one street). She couldn't help us so Mr G decided to ban me from driving and banish me to the back again.
We continued on and after going through a mountain pass with a car thats making strange noises we crawled into Whakatane late at night.
The next Morning we went to Kelly's Garage if your ever in Whakatane and need your car fix go to them friendly bunch of people all the locals we spoke to said so to.
While we were waiting on the car we went for a wonder around the town looking for the beach. While we were trying to work out what direction north was an older gentlemen in his 80's over heard us and came over to tell us that none of us where right and that the beach was that was (imagine him point here).
Turns out his name was Jim and that he had family in Christchurch he also told us a lot about the township and how the town got its name, we ended up nicknaming him Jimpedia.
Whakatane is an absolutely beautiful place and I could quite happily live there. All the locals we met were friendly and happy to share their knowledge on their beloved town and one even offered to give us a ride back to town.
We got to see one of the Waka's that was used in the opening ceremony in Auckland for the Rugby World Cup and the statue in memory of the legend on how the town got its name.
The car was finally fix towards the end of the day don't ask me what was wrong with it. It had something to do with that big thing that makes noise under the front lid. But we embarked on our final leg of the journey the push towards Auckland. The drive there was pretty uneventful probably due to the fact that I napped most of it.
We did stop at Paeroa as its a must stop to get your piccie next to the giant soda bottle. (To read more about it here is a linky.) I opt to take Gary's picture as I'm a behind the camera kinda guy.
We finally arrived in Auckland later that night. After a few nights at Auntie S's place I moved my base of operations into Auckland Central and enjoyed a few nights on the town.
The very last bit of my trip up north before I got on a plane to fly home was to go visit Mrs RR on Waiheke Island its about 30min away from Auckland Central by ferry.
I knew it was where the rich and famous goes to holiday but wasn't to sure what to expect. But yet again it turned out to be an awesome wee place.
You can walk down the main road and see this beautiful bay just behind the shops and its not at all poshy as what I expect.Its got a really nice energy about it and has a massive creative community too, my kind of place.
Waiheke Island is on my list of place to go visit again, it does help that Mrs RR lives there. So yes if you find yourself in my part of the world this would be another place I would recommended you to go visit.
Oh I can't forget I also caught up with Ms B been ages since I saw her last and really enjoyed my time with her even if she is partaking in someone with the name Terry.
All in all it was a really nice trip up north with Mr G&H. I'm going to miss them lots here in Quakechurch. Their place was pretty much my second home to the point where the spare bedroom was referred to as my room.
However I'll see them real soon on my next adventure, which hopefully I would be able to confirm by the end of this coming week oh how exciting, I think I might weee my pants. I also promise my next blog entry will not be this long.
I spend about 20min on the elephant and
thinking about it just makes my arse hurt again. They are by no means
a squish animal and their back bone well let me just say this they
have one. After the ride I got to go for a walk with them around the
bush area which was kinda cool walking right next to them. My last
bit with the Elephant was a photo op and feeding them. They made the
Elephant kneel down so I could sit on its leg and in the process I
got molested by an elephant trunk. When I got to feed them I was
placing food into its trunk maybe a hand full or so and the elephant
gave me a look as if to say “Bitch please is that all I'm getting
for lugging your fat ass around the bush” and he wouldn't put the
food into his mouth until I filled his trunk up. I finished my day
there with a beautiful meal in a tent like structure surrounded by
native bush. In the end I think it was well worth the sore arse and
the long drive, next time however I will book a room there and stay
the night.
